Great energy savings at City Hall

I was pleased to accept cheques today from Union Gas and Guelph Hydro to support our energy conservation goals. We received $37,612 from Guelph Hydro and $10,000 from Union Gas.

We will have future opportunities to apply for funding as we implement individual projects.

Here are my speaking notes:

The City of Guelph takes energy very seriously.

Energy is the second largest expenditure for the organization.

There are approximately 100 line items in the budget that relate to energy procurement and accountability for wise energy use spans all services areas within the organization.

Energy is also the fastest growing expenditure at the City and arguably represents one of our greatest financial risks.

The Corporation’s water, electricity and heating bills are expected to exceed $8M next year and this expenditure and, if left unchecked, could double in the next 7 years.

This knowledge, coupled with our commitment to show leadership on energy matters in support of the Community Energy Initiative, compel our organization to take immediate and significant action to manage its energy consumption.

Energy audits are a key element of the Corporate Energy Management Program that has recently been presented to Council.

As a fundamental first step, this year we completed comprehensive energy audits of 13 facilities.

The audits identified over 100 energy conservation projects demonstrating a strong business case for long-term savings.

These projects, totaling $3.3M spread over the next three years, will result in 5.9% energy savings at these facilities, worth over $400,000 a year in avoided costs.

These energy conservation projects are part of a proposed Corporate Energy Management Program that, once fully implemented, could avoid between seven and eleven million dollars in energy costs over the next 10 years.

Council has been presented 3, 10 and 20 year businesses cases that demonstrate a small investment today will deliver significant returns to the taxpayer.

Council will be making a decision on this investment through its deliberation of the 2013 budget process.

All governments are experiencing tough fiscal times, which is why the provincial incentives that we have received through Guelph Hydro and Union Gas for our energy audit program are so important.

They enable us to leverage the City’s operational budgets as much as possible, and develop the robust business case required to get to the next step of implementing energy reduction projects.

We value the partnerships we’ve developed with our utility providers – Guelph Hydro and Union Gas.

This is just the beginning, and we look to continue the working relationship and support as we implement our Corporate Energy Management Program.

I would like to recognize the great work of our management team in effectively tackling this issue along with your success in securing grant funding to support the implementation of the program.